anybody have any good links to videos doing what the OP is asking for, I would love to see it in practice?
Never pay someone else to read the manual to you.
Thats my advice. DIY rules.
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I agree, but I also love the Elektron manuals. If you learn better via videos then there’s no shame in doing it that way.
Especially if you play an instrument, nothing beats operating with your feet.
I’d like to integrate my looper (Boomerang) with the OT but it’s not that simple to manage the recorded loops in conjunction with the OT.
As to answer the OP, I’d totally recommend the OT since it’s very easy to make tight loops on the OT and mangle them afterwards. Using Flex machines would be my choice, more flexible, unless you need overdub but I doubt you wanna do that.
Not sure what you by “instrument on its own”: are you speaking about an instrument like a guitar for instance?
octatrack can do “plays free” tracks too, u don’t need the sequencer running to play a “plays free” track. it’s like playing a looped sample, but it’s a whole programmed pattern with p locks and sample flips and swing and whatever else you want in it, all on a one shot button. once I learned what “plays free” means I don’t even ever hit play anymore, just “plays free” tracks and pickup machines for me. u don’t need to “microtime feel” into beats when you fire elements off by hand, every time you fire off an element the feel is different
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Oh man, every time I think the OT and me and done someone throws in another workflow idea that sounds awesome!!
Care to elaborate any more on this workflow and what style of music you are making? Sorry if off topic, this post just really caught my eye!
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Hey, thanks everyone for answering, the little thingy is in the mail by now and should arrive this weekend 
I’ll make sure to go though all your advices and I’ll try to keep this updated with the “definitive set up” once it’s done
To answer various questions I’ve seen :
@Blasted_pingin basically I meant using to play various samples
@captain8 this video was suggested earlier : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5gyFy-tZIA
@obscurerobot thanks for the advice, I had figured the “easier” recoridng with MK2 (rec3 etc), and found one for pretty cheap around 900€, so… it’s happening!
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that is real people, no kidding , the octatrack will spit on you , break your neck , tear you heart. and then laught.
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to be fair and serious, take an octatrack if :
want to play an mangle loops live
do the performance mixer thing with ezbot template ( mk2 for that mk1 ins are bad )
DJ stems or long sample
use it as a looper
for composing music and making beats digitakt is wayyy better
( have the two digitakt ans octatrack )
Respectfully disagree about the making beats bit.
Much prefer the sound of samples in the Octatrack and prefer the layout and sample slicing/timestretching.
The beats I make on the OT sit in a mix much better than any I made with the Digitakt.
Personal preference obviously but 25 years music production experience, the OT is a winner for me for beats.
excuse my experience sir we have same age and experience, i concede the slice can be improved on digitakt but all the rest is better Filter+overdrive+srr+BR+delay+chorus+reverb+compressor on D2 !!!
never liked the sound of octatrack for me , maybe it’s because i only have mk1
Just my preference, everything just seems silky and cohesive out of the OT.
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I’ve got a Mk1 and MK2, they sound the same
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Don’t you fight now, you guys are on the same team
My use of the OT will indeed be more for a live, but I also intend to use it for composition in a dawless set up to integrate long atmospheric pads, background / ambient percussions ; and run some elements through plocked effects
I’m quite familiar with the Elektron way of life, had an A4 for eons & I got a syntakt and a digitone on composition duties already. Buying the OT is kind of my last step toward dawless 
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The Octatrack is also fantastic for streaming really long files from the CF card using static machine tracks.
I recommend getting the best 64GB CF card you can get for it, Sandisk do a good one.
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SanDisk 64GB Extreme CompactFlash Memory Card UDMA 7 Speed Up To 120MB/s - SDCFXSB-064G-G46
The SanDisk Extreme Pro 64 GB 160 MB/s is the one I got for my OT and it’s been excellent. Looks like it goes up to 256GB, but it gets very expensive.
you need it
64 GB max for the OT, info intended to the OP.
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